7/14/05
Twin Cities Raceway Park
North Vernon, IN
USAC Indiana Sprintweek Round #1
53 cars
With over an inch of rain hitting the track in the two days prior to the event, just getting it in was a miracle. Officials did well with a shortage of equipment to get the job done and the events were started without a hitch on a very wet, fast surface that would see four track records go down.
After about an hour delay for passing showers, Dave Darland (32nd car out to time) broke Richard Griffins eight year old track record with a circuit around the high-banked 3/8 mile in 13.817 seconds. Cory Kruseman (25th) was second quick, followed by Tracy Hines (30th), Bill Rose (6th), Bud Kaeding (19th), Levi Jones (21st), Daron Clayton (18th), Brandon Petty (23rd), Bryan Clauson (9th) and Brady Short (45th). Shane Hollingsworth failed to get a time in in an ailing Beauchamp car. Lee Boss flipped hard after getting over a steep turn four cushion, and was done for the night.
Last Chance Heat #1 (started): 1. Tony Elliott 7E (1) 2. Jonathan Vennard 4m (2) / 3. Tom Hessert 5H (3) 4. AJ Anderson 34 (4) 5. Jerad Parsons 35 (10) 6. Kevin Besecker 15 (6) 7. Derek Franks 3x (8) 8. Dickie Gaines 21x (5) DNS Kyle Wissmiller 2K, Bill Baker 99, Lee Boss 8B
After another rain delay of 30 minutes, Elliott set a new six lap record at 1:27.71 in a mostly single-file affair. The top two transferred to the back of the heat events. Gaines, in a Roberts entry, slid sideways in turn two on lap three while running fourth and pulled in the pits.
Last Chance Heat #2 (started): 1. John Wolfe 3m (2) 2. Justin Marvel 47 (1) / 3. Scotty Weir 22w (6) 4. Derek ODell 11D (3) 5. Jon Sciscoe 7 (5) 6. Mitch Wissmiller 7x (4) DNS Rodney Stone 16, Jason Knoke 77, Rick Vaughn 22, Shane Hollingsworth 11s
Wolfe led the distance. ODell was running third when he spun on lap three. Wolfe led Marvel, M. Wissmiller, Sciscoe and Weir back to green flag racing. M. Wissmiller exited a lap later, and Sciscoe flipped hard into the turn one catchfence on the white flag lap. He was uninjured, but we needed a 30 minute delay to take care of the fence.
Heat one (started): 1. Darland 11 (8) 2. Derek Scheffel 2J (1) 3. Mat Neely 6 (5) 4. Jay Drake 21 (4) / 5. Elliott (9) 6. Kaeding 29 (7) 7. Ronnie Clark 33 (3) 8. Clauson 7c (6) 9. Ted Hines 12 (2)
Scheffel took the early advantage with Te. Hines in tow. The 10 lap heats took the top four to the A main. The invert for the heats was eight. Te. Hines was running second on lap three, when he came to a rest on the track, bunching the field again. At the time, Scheffel led Neely, Clark, Drake, Kaeding, Darland and Elliott. When the green flag fell all heck broke loose as Darland began to make his move on the lightning quick surface, dicing through the field. He made his winning move on the very last corner to thrill the packed grandstand. Elliott had a nice run from ninth to fifth, but nonetheless would start deep in the B in his first run in the Priestley machine.
Heat two (started): 1. Kevin Briscoe 5 (2) 2. Brad Sweet 53 (1) 3. Kruseman 67 (8) 4. Dustin Smith 77s (3) / 5. Vennard (9) 6. Zac Osborn 11z (5) 7. Allan Ballard 97 (4) 8. Short 36 (6) 9. Jones 2B (7)
Briscoe led flag to flag. Ballard slowed on the third circuit bunching the field behind him. This aided Kruseman and Jones who blew by into transfers. Jones was running fourth on the sixth lap when the motor blew ending his run. Vennard looked strong and before the yellow, looked like he would get by Kruseman for the last transfer. He suffered the same fate as fellow non-qualifier, Elliott, and headed to the back of the B.
Heat three (started): 1. John Scott 83 (1) 2. Bart Grider 82G (2) 3. Jon Stanbrough 10 (5) 4. Damion Gardner 50 (6) / 5. Wolfe (9) 6. Clayton 92 (7) 7. Tr. Hines 69 (8) 8. Matt Westfall 54 (3) 9. Josh Wise 20 (4)
Scott led the distance. Gardner grabbed the final transfer with two to go. Clayton was exciting to watch and raced above a tall ledge built in the corners on several occasions. As soon as he made up ground, he lost it it seemed. Wolfe was the third non-qualifier to charge from ninth to fifth, one spot out of a transfer.
Heat four (started): 1. Kent Christian 1c (1) 2. Shane Cottle 10E (3) 3. Darren Hagen 71 (5) 4. Marvel (9) / 5. Brandon Petty 3R (7) 6. Broc Burton 0 (2) 7. Eric Davis 96 (4) 8. Corey Smith 66s (6) 9. Rose (8)
Christian led flag to flag. Rose was up to fifth by lap four, but slowed to a stop and exited. Marvel was lucky to avoid him, running in seventh. On the restart, he charged from sixth to grab the fourth and final transfer, scoring one for the non-qualifiers. Why not take two NQ to make 10 car heats?
B main (started): 1. Tr. Hines (1) 2. Rose (2) 3. Kaeding (3) 4. Jones (4) 5. Petty (6) 6. Clauson (7) / 7. Clayton (5) 8. Wise (12) 9. Vennard (19) 10. C. Smith (9) 11. Short (8) 12. Davis (13) 13. Wolfe (20) 14. Ballard (11) 15. Westfall (15) 16. Osborn (10) 17. Clark (14) 18. Elliott (18) 19. Burton (17) 20. Te. Hines (16)
Tr. Hines shattered JJ Yeleys five year old 12 lap record, shaving nine seconds off the old mark with a time of 2:56.03. With six transferring to the A, and getting their times back, it was a good opportunity to get some laps in before the feature for the leaders. Clayton spent most of the time running between fourth and fifth, often getting above the ledges in the turns and creating some definite excitement for the fans. He lost the sixth and final transfer to a steady Petty and an impressive Clauson on the last lap after bobbling. Vennard was the hard-charger, moving up ten spots.
A main (started): 1. Kruseman (5) 2. Tr. Hines (4) 3. Darland (6) 4. Jones (1) 5. Kaeding (2) 6. Neely (10) 7. Rose (3) 8. Stanbrough (11) 9. Petty (7) 10. Clauson (8) 11. Cottle (15) 12. Hagen (12) 13. Drake (13) 14. Scheffel (18) 15. Gardner (9) 16. Wise (23, pr.) 17. D. Smith (14) 18. Christian (21) 19. Scott (20) 20. Sweet (19) 21.Grider (17) 22. Briscoe (16) 23. Marvel (22)
Kaeding took the early advantage. The top six starters were nose to tail and battled for position. Kruseman began to pick his way to the front getting by Darland, Jones, Rose, Tr. Hines, and finally Kaeding on lap 10 of the 30 lapper. Kruseman simply checked out, leaving the rest to battle for second. He shattered all 30 lap records at North Vernon grabbing the checkers for owner, Keith Kunz. His closest pursuer was Tr. Hines, who thought he may have won the race, because Kruser was nowhere in site. In the battle for second, Darland took the spot from Kaeding on lap 20. Five laps later, Tr. Hines did the same to Darland. Wise, who took a USAC provisional was the hard-charger, moving up seven spots.